Keeping Sharp in the Kitchen

 Keeping Sharp in the Kitchen

Years ago when I was making sushi with one of my chef friends, he was explaining to me about the starch content of the sticky rice and saying something about fanning the rice while adding the seasoning. I wasn’t really paying attention because he was the one on rice detail. When he pulled out his Zwilling J.A. Henckles Chef Knife in all its gleaming glory, that’s when I really took notice. It was big. It was well-balanced. It was very sharp. Still, he began gracefully, and in a smooth carving motion, giving it a dozen or so strokes against the sharpening steel. “It’s always good to sharpen your knife before cutting,” he said. “If you are diligent every time, you won’t have to spend as much time, and you keep a razor edge.” And then consider storing them in a cool knife holder like this one.



Photo courtesy of squidoo.com. Available at amazon.com.



That was some good advice that I more or less try to follow. Well, I’m no chef, and I don’t have a set of expensive Henckles. But I do have a chef’s knife, and I have a little gadget that is supposed to make sharpening it a whole lot easier, or, at least, simpler and safer. When sharpening a knife with my tool you put the knife in the special sharpening slot that has two stones forming a V to sharpen both sides at once and pull it towards you. Because the knife rests in there nicely you can use a little pressure and because there is a special finger shield you can pull it through rather quickly without worrying.  The other day I was sharpening my knife and must have been distracted or was going too fast because I missed the foolproof sharpening slot. The knife came down hard right on the tip of my thumb. Usually I’m glad for sharp knives. This time I’m glad it wasn’t any sharper. So my advice in the kitchen is to always use a sharp knife when cutting your vegetables but more importantly always stay sharp when sharpening your knife so you make sure there only fish in your sushi.

Geoffrey